I'm a 25-year-old crypto millionaire. Here's what I use to make the best trades and stay on top of tokens before they trend.

As one of Fortune's most influential people in NFTs, I want to share how I stay up on everything happening, including the tools, resources and communities I use to keep up with the latest and greatest trends.

1. Social media 

Twitter and Discord are the single most valuable social media platforms.

I recently posted a list of accounts to follow for both NFTs and DAOs — two areas that are top of mind in crypto these days.

My day consists of at least 3-5 hours across both these platforms, using Twitter to identify high level trends and Discord to dive into the weeds on the specifics. 

Discord servers are home to advanced internet communities. You can think of them as Slack groups, but if anyone in the world could join and contribute at any time.

When joining a server, always make sure to read the #announcements channels to say up on the most recent news.

Discord highlights "Mutual Servers" and allows you to build trust by seeing what servers you share with people in your DMs.

If you're new to Discord, make sure to update your Settings by completing your User Profile, adding a Connection (preferably Twitter) and turning off Notifications (thank me later).

Discord has a bit of a problem with bots and scammers. Never give anyone sensitive information, and anyone DMing with free money, trading opportunities or server invites should immediately be blocked. I block about 10-15 accounts every day.

To get started with great crypto communities on Discord, I recommend these servers:

• Forefront (DAOs)
• Bankless DAO (DeFi) 
• SuperRare (NFTs)
• SongCamp (Music)
• Seed Club (Social Tokens)

Discord can be overwhelming. Focus on a couple key channels (like #announcements and #introductions) and watch for curated guest presentations to make your time as useful as possible.

2. Token discovery

Heard about a new token on Twitter or Discord and looking to learn more?

CoinGecko is for you.

CoinGecko is the single best place to find out about a token, its price, total supply, and secondary markets.

When purchasing a token, ALWAYS go to the "Markets" tab and look for verified trading pairs.

There are dozens of scam tokens out there, and you can be confident that if CoinGecko has it listed under "Markets," it's a safe place to trade.

Note: I almost exclusively use decentralized exchanges like Uniswap, Sushiswap or Balancer. While there may be trading pairs with higher volume on Binance or Coinbase, these exchanges require KYC — or Know Your Customer background checks — and come with more overhead and risk.

CoinGecko features a "Trending" section to show which tokens have received the most traffic on any given day. This is a great place to find what's being talked about, but please caution that by the time it's trending, it's probably too late!

3. Web3 wallet

Once you've found a token to trade, you'll need a wallet to actually execute the transaction.

All of my on-chain activity takes place using non-custodial wallets like Metamask or Rainbow.

If you're looking to go deeper beyond Coinbase or Robinhood (which I highly recommend), you'll need a non-custodial wallet like Metamask to do things like buy an NFT on OpenSea.

To learn more about what this means, check out this awesome education guide from Rainbow. 

To make a trade, deposit ether (ETH) to cover the transaction costs and make purchases.

The best way to get ETH into Metamask is by using a fiat-onramp like Coinbase, and withdrawing after the deposit window has passed.

4. Portfolio tracking

Once you've bought a token, you'll need a place to keep up with its progress relative to your portfolio.

After downloading Metamask as a browser extension, you now have access to a global passport of crypto applications.

The next thing you'll want to do is link that wallet to Zerion, a leading portfolio tracker.

Zerion showcases all of your tokens and their respective financial value. It's the single best place to keep up with the total size of your portfolio. Best of all, you can connect multiple wallets, giving you a holistic view of all your holdings for those who use different wallets for different sectors (like myself).

5. Media resources

You are only as smart as the media you consume.

To keep up with tokens to follow and tools to utilize, I recommend keeping tabs on a few key crypto media outlets:

• Forefront: Social tokens, DAOs
• The Defiant: Real-time DeFi news
• Bankless: DeFi resources, guides and thought leadership
• NFT Now: NFT drops, interviews, and insights
• Daily Gwei: All things Ethereum
• Daily Ape: Everyday's most pressing Tweets and stories
• Messari: Research portal for the financially focused
• Delphi Digital: Deep dives on specific projects and topics
• The Block: Trust crypto news outlet
• Global Coin Research: Community driven coverage of community tokens and DeFi

Many of these have both written content (like newsletters) and audio/visual content (podcasts + YouTube channels).

Most of these have free content, and for those looking to go one level deeper, there are typically premium tiers with access to more data.

I don't believe it's important to subscribe to *all* these outlets. Instead, find 1-3 that are very meaningful to you and track each and every thing that they cover.

My personal favorites are the Forefront newsletter and the Daily Ape Telegram group. Join their Discord and become a part of the conversion happening every week.

6. Alpha tools

If you're looking to stay one step ahead, the following tools lets you research the more nuanced day-to-day operations of emerging projects.

Nansen: Track on-chain activity to monitor market activity

Wgmi.io: Track popular NFT collections

Etherscan: Track wallets to view token holdings

Snapshot: Track governance proposals from crypto communities

These are not for the faint of heart, but an annual subscription to Nansen (~$500) will pay its weight in alpha in a few short months.

7. Trade the vibes

This is everything you'll ever need to stay up with all things crypto.

You'll soon find that your first few months are all about education and awareness. Get a solid grasp on the landscape and start to recognize key players.

From there, you'll start to see the secret sauce.

My investment thesis is simple: If I hear about a token from three trusted, independent sources, I immediately research (and almost always buy) the token.

To learn more about my investment thesis, check out these podcasts:

• Bankless: The Creator Economy 
• PRSPR Podcast: How DAOs will Affect our Future
• Long Hash Ventures: Infusing DAOs with Purpose & Culture
• Index Coop: Conversations with the Coop

Crypto favors gut reactions, and many of my investment decisions are the output of 30-minute Zoom calls and Discord chats.

You will not find the next biggest token in public on Twitter. You will find it by diving head first into the community and making yourself a meaningful part of those conversations.

For those just getting started, it's a long journey. Crypto is a full-time job, and while there's an endless world of opportunity, expect your success to be directly tied to your time in the market.

It took me 3 years to find myself in a place of making educated decisions about where the market was headed, so don't expect quick gains.Instead, use the above resources and slowly but surely you're GMI (gonna make it).

Cooper Turley works with DAOs like Friends with Benefits and in advisory for Audius, a decentralized music-streaming platform, and the Variant Fund, a crypto investment firm started by an ex-Andreessen Horowitz partner. He is an avid NFT collector and was featured in Fortune's 2021 NFTy 50.